Key Scripture: “Go
in and possess the land." Joshua 1:9
Power Point:
As a child, I always
loved it when we went on a trip somewhere.
My family took very few vacations so when we had the privilege of
traveling it was a very big deal. Mom would pack the bags and dad would pack
the car and off we would go. It was fun
at the start because everything was new and decidedly different from our normal
routine. Usually though, by the time we
had experienced all the "different' we were glad to go home again-back to
our own beds and our own comfortable routines where nothing seemed out of the
ordinary and you knew what to expect.
In our spiritual
lives we are also on a journey to "somewhere". God has it all planned out for us and at the
beginning we are usually excited. We've
packed up all our promises and good intentions and off we go. Then things begin to happen that aren't
"normal”, or "comfortable". You’re required to walk where you can't
see the next step clearly. The terrain
may be difficult to negotiate. You may stumble and fall. You may find yourself
in totally unexpected and frightening places without any way out but God. You
gulp and say, "Oh my! I've made a wrong turn. I must have missed God!" That is when you have to sit down and remind
yourself that you are on a journey with Him and He's in this thing WITH
you. You have to stay close to Him so that you know where to put your foot
next. You have to know that even though this doesn't look, taste, touch, smell
like, or sound like a good place to be, God is definitely working it out to be
a good thing for you.
Beloved, it is the Journey that is key to Him. He is so intent on
setting us free from the barriers of our faith, of teaching us how to respond
to what is happening in our lives that
sometimes it seems He has forgotten His
promises. And yet, He is on a journey to
make us like Jesus. He is on a journey
to free us of the lies of lack so that we can live in abundance in every area
of our lives; abundance of peace, abundance of Joy and the abundance of knowing
and understanding His faithfulness to us.
That's why Jesus came, and that's what God intends to do.
Unfortunately the
journey may look too difficult from our point of view. Our feet get tired. Our hearts get
tired. Our spirits begin to flag; in
fact we often want to wave the flag of surrender! Instead of responding with joy, we respond
with fear. Instead of responding with faith we respond with doubt and
anxiety-and hopelessness.
If you find yourself
on that part of your journey with Him today it's time to take a rest stop and
unpack those promises. They are His gifts to us wrapped in the goodness of His
nature. It's time to remember that He is
deliberately moving you into position to enjoy the rest of your journey. This
is the time when you make sure that your thoughts are captivated by the
unlimited potential of His presence with you.
This is the time when praise and thanksgiving are the first and last
things out of your mouth. This is the
time when you persevere even though the giants seem very large and
numerous.
This is where you get to choose to trust Him to bring you through and bring you out. He's promised to finish your journey with a
flourish. He's promised to complete
every single thing that concerns you and is concerning you right now.
The faith life is like a
giant heavenly chess game. God has already made the first move and now it’s
your turn. The moment you take your first move and step out in faith, He makes
HIS move. And then it’s YOUR turn. And then it’s HIS turn. And then...
So Beloved, is it your
move?
Power Thought:
When we move in faith, in response to Who God is, God moves
in response to that leap of faith to bless us.
If we don't make the next move, He has nothing to respond to.
Copyright © 2015, Suzanne Roberts, Unpublished Work
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